Conventional seal assemblies are used in a number of different industries to provide a seal between different components which may be movable relative to one another. By way of non-limiting example, seal assemblies such as weatherstrips, weatherseals, glassrun moldings, window seals, and the like are used in the automotive industry to seal between a vehicle door defining a window opening, and a glass panel supported for sliding movement relative to the door to selectively close the window opening. These conventional seal assemblies may be operatively attached to different portions of the vehicle in a number of different ways, such as with fasteners, clips, and the like.
Those having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that seal assemblies may be manufactured in a number of different ways to suit specific vehicle application requirements. To this end, conventional seal assemblies are formed from one or more extruded members which are molded together, such as with a plastic injection process, which bonds the extruded members together at a predetermined location corresponding to a portion of the vehicle, such as at a corner of the window opening, to form a molded seal assembly. In order to facilitate attachment to the vehicle, various types of clips, locators, and/or brackets are often subsequently attached to the molded seal assembly at predetermined locations which correspond to fastening locations of the particular vehicle. To this end, holes or other formations may be defined in one or more of the extruded members prior to molding, and clips, fasteners, locators, and the like may be subsequently installed into the holes/formations after the molded seal assembly has been formed.
While methods of manufacturing seal assemblies known in the related art have generally performed well for their intended purpose, there remains a need in the art for improved methods of manufacturing.